Okay, I thought I would take this opportunity to update on you on two posts I made recently. (Read on …)

OUR CABINETS ARE COMING TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I’m not excited or anything.

I promise if there are any pictures worth posting, I will post them, but they may only be of boxes, so don’t hold your breath. ;)

Had Ding Dong. Happy now. :D

No not Baby Girl’s. She does just fine thank you very much…as long as she can see me anyway. But tonight at church, I wasn’t feeling all that great anyway – tired and just blah. And when I sat down after rehearsal and was holding her, I really just wanted to sit there and hold her during mass instead of giving her to someone else and going up to sing. It hasn’t happened to me before – that feeling. But, unfortunately for me, we were doing a song that I ended up having to do the verses on because I knew them better than anyone else, and also we were doing a new song that I needed to be up there singing on as well. Mike (and the rest of the choir) were depending on me and I had to suck it up. There are many other weeks when I could pass it off to someone else and just sit there with her, but this wasn’t one of them. Sometimes, life just doesn’t work out the way we would like it to on a given day. *sigh*

I still want that Ding Dong.

I really really really really really want a Ding Dong. NOW.

This was not a good first, however. Today she had her first tantrum. Oh and her second although you could argue it was actually a continuation of the first. I think I handled it well and my teaching experience was actually useful. Hurray!

It all started because she was rocking back and forth in her high chair when I was trying to feed her and the spoon hit the back of her mouth. So that’s what set her off. Then I was getting ready to give her her bottle and for whatever reason she just lost it. And it was a totally different cry than I’d ever heard before. Not upset, not angry, just…well, for lack of a better word pissy. Yep, I thought, and said to her, this is a tantrum. We don’t have tantrums Baby Girl. Those are not acceptable. Okay, I’m going to ignore you until you are through. So I turned around and started messing with my laptop. But she kept going. And going. And going. Until it woke Mike up and he came out to see what was going on and distracted her enough that she stopped. Then I gave her her bottle and she was fine. Until I noticed she couldn’t hold it up well enough to actually drink it, so I took it away in order to reposition her. Well, as you can imagine, that did not go over so well. And the tantrum started up again. At that point, I took the bottle away, told her I’d come back when she was done and walked out of the room, because I learned as a teacher that ignoring tantrums is the best way to keep them from becoming a habit. (She was in her pack n play by this time, so contained and safe.) By the time I got back to the bedroom where Mike was and stood there talking to him for a couple of minutes, she had stopped, so I went back out to where she was, picked her up, loved her and sat and cuddled her while she drank her bottle. And she was back to her normal happy self.

I stayed calm. I didn’t overreact. I tried to teach her that tantrums would not get her what she wanted. And I think I did okay today! Leaving your baby to cry when they are genuinely upset is hard. Leaving your baby to cry when you know they are having a tantrum and you are teaching them it’s not effective problem solving, is not so hard. Okay, it might have been if it had lasted much longer, but since it was over within a matter of minutes, not so much.

But just in case this procedure doesn’t always work, what do you experienced moms do when your kids have tantrums? I need more tricks in my arsenal. :D

Okay, so scrapbooking was fun. However, I still say I don’t want to do every facet of my life. Just special things. I have pretty much decided that I will do a scrapbook of Baby Girl’s first year. I think that would be cool. :) But first things first – gotta finish the one I started or at least make more progress. ;)

I think one of the best parts of the evening was just being able to sit and enjoy quality time with other women – chatting and venting and sharing stories and keeping each other company as we worked. I think it’s the quilting bee of the 21st century really – the getting together to scrapbook. And yes, I remember going with my mom to quilting bees when I was a little kid, and although I have no idea what they were gossiping chatting about, I certainly remember them doing it while we kids played and had a grand old time.

So, there was me, Marlene, Marlene’s sister-in-law, and Rochelle, along with Baby Girl, The Princess (age 4) and The Social Butterfly (5th grade). Baby Girl took maybe a half hour nap and was up until 11 pm! She was having too much fun playing. And playing. And playing. Oh and watching The Wiggles. Yeah. She has been wiggloctrinated. And all I have to say to that is that it’s better than Barney.

So, I now have a concept of how to do scrapbook pages. And I actually got two done last night and just finished another one after my scrapbooking shopping spree to Michael’s this afternoon. They were having a sale all right? Sheesh. ;-)

If you want pictures, you must click! Included are pictures of my first two pages. Be kind – I’m just learning after all! (Read on …)

We had fun!
I did two pages!
Baby Girl held her own playing with 4 year old goddaughter!
More tomorrow when I’m sort of awake!

Oh, and one more thing – Amy Grant is da bomb.

When Baby Girl first started using her high chair her little feet barely made it past the edge of the seat. Today I noticed that if she gets herself into the right position, her feet can reach the foot rest. *sigh*

This is one of my favorites of the photos of my mom I found in her old photo albums. She just looks so happy and joyful and carefree in this picture. There was no date on it, but I’d guess she was probably around 16 or so give or take a couple of years.

I’m a stickler for good customer service. When I don’t get it, I get very irritated. I usually get my digital photos printed at Costco because they are usually quick, I can send them straight from my computer, and they do a decent job. So I just uploaded some pictures that I need for scrapbooking tonight and got an email saying my order has been delayed and to call the photo lab to check on it. I called twice and the phone rang and rang and rang and rang and no one ever bothered to answer it. So does that mean that their printer is broken and I will have no photos and I need to send them somewhere else? Or does it just mean that it will take longer than an hour to get them printed (which would be no big deal)? If they’re not going to tell me that in an email, it would be helpful for them to answer the phone. And if they’re not going to answer the phone, then maybe they should give me more information in my email. Either way, I need to know so I can do what is necessary to have those pictures for tonight. Sheesh.

Update: Got an email about an hour and 10 minutes after the photos were uploaded saying they were ready, so I guess they were just running a little behind. :)

Nothing like going through old pictures to get you feeling introspective is there? I ran across a pic of my mom with what I think is one of her old boyfriends. He looked like a happy, handsome guy and I wondered if my mom ever regretted not marrying him instead of my dad. And then I thought if she had married him there wouldn’t be a Karin and if no Karin there would be no Baby Girl and I can’t imagine a world without Baby Girl. And then I knew the answer. Nope, she didn’t regret not marrying him. Because she would have felt the same way. She wouldn’t have been able to imagine a world without me. Now I get it Mom. Now I get it.

Now I understand what my mom meant when she told me it was sometimes weird for her to look at me because I reminded her so much of her own mother. Because sometimes when I look at Baby Girl I see my mother looking back at me. Other times I see myself. And sometimes it’s very unnerving to have your mother or yourself looking back at you from a 9 1/2 month old face. I can just imagine how weird it will be when I have to discipline her and it feels like I’m disciplining my mom or myself. eek.

Okay, here’s the disclaimer. I taught in a school. I know that zero tolerance policies are there for a reason. And I absolutely think that there should be zero tolerance for weapons and alcohol and illegal drugs and certain other behaviors. And if students break those rules they should be dealt with harshly. No ifs, ands, or buts.

However, there is what we will call the “spirit of the law” and there is what we will call the “letter of the law”. One reason that juries and judges and all of that exists is because of the “spirit of the law”. If it was all about the “letter of the law” then what would be the point of trying the case in front of a jury? What would be the point of gathering evidence or taking statements? If it was only about the “letter of the law” and there was clear-cut evidence that you broke the law, then what’s the point of the trial? That’s where the “spirit of the law” comes in. If it was all about the “letter of the law” then if a police officer caught you speeding, he/she would be obligated to ticket you even if you were on the way to the hospital in labor. But see there’s that thing called the “spirit of the law” and I bet the officer would probably escort you to the hospital with sirens blaring and lights blazing instead of giving you a ticket.

So, back to the zero tolerance policy. Should there be zero tolerance for a student that was sick and put ibuprofen in her purse to take to work, then forgot to take it out and accidentally left her purse somewhere, and then someone found it and turned it into the office and when searching the purse for id in order to get it back to its rightful owner, they found the ibuprofen? Should that student (an honor student by the way) then be suspended for TEN DAYS? Was she really trying to get away with something? Or did she perhaps make an honest mistake? And should she not be cut a little slack and get off with a warning like a cop might give to you on the street if you’re polite and he’s in a good mood and not trying to make his quota?

Well, according to a local high school, apparently there is no such thing as the “spirit of the law”, and no such thing as giving a good student who made an honest mistake a break, and no such thing as looking at specific circumstances versus just doling out punishments. I read the handbook myself. It does NOT say that suspension is mandatory. It says that suspension or expulsion COULD be a consequence. So obviously they had a choice. And they made the wrong one.

This story is not over. I hope they see the error of their ways. But, in the meantime, you better believe her parents are fighting it. And you better believe that if it was my kid? I would do everything in my power to make them regret that decision.

Huh?????